Tuesday, January 19, 2016

#ThanksObama IDF Chief warns Iran will finance Hamas and Hezbullah

At the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot warned that sanctions relief for Iran would mean more funding for Hamas and Hezbullah.

Within a year to two years, large funds made available by sanctions
relief will be directed by Iran towards trying to harm Israel, he
added.

Iran's "advanced military industry" will develop further,
and its transfer of funds to Hezbollah, which has so far stood at
around a billion dollar a year, will increase.

"The assessment is
that as the economic situation improves in Iran, more assets will be
diverted [to building up capabilities against Israel]," he added.

Similarly,
Hamas, which currently receives tens of millions of dollars from Iran,
is set to receive more, while Tehran continues to try and traffic
weapons to Gaza.

...

Hezbollah remains the "IDF's number one enemy," he said, challenging
Israel's aerial and intelligence superiority though its conversion of
240 Shi'ite towns and villages in southern Lebanon into rocket assault
bases.

Each such town and village has their own defensive
Hezbollah units, rocket launchers, and command and control center. "They
are the capability Hezbollah has built for the day they receive the
order to attack. They are seeking to make their projectiles more
accurate, and have grown in the past decade from 10,000 to 100,000
rockets and missiles," Eisenkot said.

Nevertheless, the chief of
staff said, "Hezbollah understands the implications of an escalation
in Lebanon," and has kept the peace in Lebanon for over a decade. "Our
intelligence and operational abilities have improved dramatically
compared to 2006, when we were focused on the Palestinian arena," he
said.

"There is a deep understanding [among Hezbollah chiefs] of
Israel's intelligence penetration into the organization. They perceive
the IDF as a very strong, unpredictable military.

"In the coming
three to five years, the threat posed by sub-state actors like
Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaida, and ISIS will grow, as will the threat
posed by rockets, offensive tunnels, and terror and guerrilla cells.
The cyber threat will also grow. However, threats by conventional
armies will shrink, and there are no enemy air forces, navies, or
divisions that currently threaten Israel," he added.

Eisenkot also expects unconventional threats against Israel to decline in the next 3-5 years - something we can only hope and pray will be true - and notes with concern that ISIS has more support in Judea, Samaria and Gaza than anyplace else in the Arab world.

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I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com